Mexican pop (also known as Mexipop) is actually Latin Pop from Mexico with a regular pop rhythm or latino-based rhythms.

Introduction

Mexico has been known as Latin America's Holliwood for over 50 years. Mexico is the country that exports the most entertainment in Spanish language, for instance plenty of Mexican pop. If a singer wants to "make it" in Latin America he or she must obtain success in Mexico. Then the jump o "crossover" from Mexico to the USA is easier. Certainly this is easier for a Mexican-born singer. Sometimes the neologism mexipop is used to describe Mexican pop, though it seems to be far from being accepeted.The reason why this neologism is used might be due to the huge amount of pop music that Mexico produces, in comparison with other Latin American countries.

Mexican pop music was limited to a Latin American, Spanish-speaking market until the mid-90's, when an interest towards latino music increased after Ricky Martin's and Jennifer Lopez' relase in the US. In the opinion of some, one of the unofficial first international Mexipop hits is Spice Girls' hit Spice up your life, which was composed in Acapulco, Mexico, when the British group participated in the pop music festival Acafest which takes place every year in this Mexican city.

Mexican pop music through the years

Mexican pop music in the 60's and 70's: American copycat

During the 60s and 70s Mexican pop consisted of Spanish versions of English hits. Singers and groups like Angélica María, Johnny Laboriel, Alberto Vázquez, Mayté Gaos, Enrique Guzmán, Julissa, Teen Tops and Los Rebeldes del Ritmo remade the Spanish versions of Elvis Presley, Paul Anka, Nancy Sinatra and others. If there was some talent among compositors, it was merely used to translate English songs into Spanish.

Mexican pop music in the 80's: some talent starts being used

During the 80s some original versions started to appear, though the rhythms were merely a copy of American pop. The lyrics were finally original but the music did not offer anything new or exciting, strictly talking about the rhythms. Songwriters like Guillermo Méndez Guiú, Rafael Pérez Botija or Aureo Baqueiro wrote songs for soloists like Yuri, Marisela, José José, Lucía Méndez and groups like Timbiriche, Flans and Fandango headed the radio charts in Mexico and started an international career. Still, this was limited to a Latin American, Spanish-speaking market.

The world takes a look at Latin America: Changing because of need

It was in the mid 90s, probably after Ricky Martin's success in Europe with the hit María and the international launch of 1994 World Cup's theme, The Cup of Life, that an ineterest for Latin American music started to arise. For instance Mexican pop music started to look attractive for intercontinental markets. Mexican pop starts being heard in Spain, country which had already a music market (smaller than in Mexico) in Spanish language with local artists.

Mexican TV company Televisa had sold for many years its productions to many countries, and this fact helped Mexican actor and actesses who launched a singing career to be popular in those countries where these TV programs were being broadcast. For instance when singers like Thalía, Eduardo Capetillo, Bibi Gaytán, Paulina Rubio, Anahí, Tatiana or Belinda relased their music in Latin America, Rumania or the Phillippinnes, they were already known and the crossover from acting to music was not that difficult.

However, in order to look appealing mexipop had to offer something different and fresh. One of the leading singers in this new era of mexipop was Thalía, whith her then pruducer Emilio Estefan launched the album En Éxtasis in 1995 which contained pop songs that were mixed with Latin American traditional music. On the albums released later by Thalía, she mixed pop music with Mexican traditional rhythms: mariachi, banda, norteña. This new sort of pop resulted to be quite succesful and fellow singers Paulina Rubio, Víctor García and Arácely Arámbula, among others, decided to release songs based on the same recipe as Thalía's hits. They succeded and took over Latin America hit lists.

Some Mexican pop music singers have launched English-speaking CDs in the US, but the market to solely Spanish-speaking singers is not limited as the interest to Latin Pop is still present in the mid 2000s.

Among mexipop singers who have had a considerable success in Mexico, Latin America, Anglo America, Europe, Asia and even some African countries, we find Thalía, Luis Miguel, Fey, Paulina Rubio, Lucero, Juan Gabriel and Gloria Trevi, all of them originally supported by giant TV company Televisa.

Televisa vs TV Azteca

Mexican TV company TV Azteca has also proven to launch some mexipop singers. Few of them have had the success of the singers coming from competitor TV company Televisa, against whom they have fought intensively to dominate Mexican and Latin American entertainment markets and music charts. The exception might be those who have started a career after their appearence in TV Azteca's reality show La Academia (Mexican version of American Idol), such as Víctor García or Yahir.

List of Mexican pop singers